I started writing Zeb, Jet and the Ice-Cream Calamity for two reasons. First, my deep love of stories, which started when my mother would sit us on the stairs and read fairy tales. Second, I have two grandsons living with food allergies and carry auto-injector pens. One day, the older of the two asked me if I would write an adventure story about allergy safety awareness. I agreed and decided to go for it. What was the worst that could happen?
THINK ABOUT FINANCE
Once you start writing a book with a view to self publish, you really need to think about finance. I took time out of a salaried lecturing post to write full time. I had to plan how I would pay the editor, illustrator, publisher and printer, as well as covering living costs.
To offset my costs, I devised a series of bespoke workshop sessions around writing, editing and publishing to approach universities, libraries and other venues. Promoting and selling these is hard.
CREATIVE ASSISTANCE
Being a complete novice, I knew that I needed to find a reputable editor to work with. I did some research online and I was incredibly fortunate to find someone who understood how I worked best (sometimes a quick call helped so much more than receiving feedback by email) and understood the vision I had for my book. In the end, as well as an editor they also became a mentor that helped guide me through the process as a whole.
As Zeb, Jet and the Ice-Cream Calamity is a picture book, choosing an illustrator to work with became vital. Should I reach out to well-known illustrators with a proven track record, or up-and-coming illustrators?
To see what was available locally I attended events such as book launches. Eventually, this led to me finding my brilliant illustrator. A big factor behind my choice to work with them was they immediately fell in love with my two main characters. In the formative conversations I had with them it became clear they understood why I was writing the story and that they were as excited as my grandchildren about seeing it in print. The project also gave us both the opportunity to experience publishing a picture book for the first time, and we were in regular contact to make sure everything stayed on track.
One of the best pieces of advice I can give to those looking to self-publish a picture book is to create a storyboard. Page by page, I added the text, notes and pictures. My illustrator also gave feedback before we signed off on the project. Before committing myself to signing a contract, I consulted BIPC (Newcastle), who advised me on things to consider, such as Intellectual Property rights.
BECOME CONNECTED
I gained a lot of knowledge and increased my confidence by joining several writing groups and classes. Practicing writing, sharing writing tips and giving/receiving feedback became good habits. I also started to learn about the publishing journeys of other members of those groups. Connecting with these groups served to present me with opportunities I would not have had otherwise. For example, I discovered an organisation called PentoPrint by attending an online magazine publishing event. This was transformative in terms of industry contacts, and even resulted in the fantastic experience of speaking at Hay Book Festival in 2023. Creating connections within the writing community also led to me meeting my publisher, Sixth Element Publishing.
WORKING WITH A PUBLISHER
My publisher has helped me by being willing to simplify and explain the processes involved. For example, offering guidance on the best choice of font, typesetting, and on how the finished book will look. Other discussions have included the ISBN, where to stock the book, and the price the book will retail at. They also offered guidance on the dimensions (my book was originally sized at 26cm by 29cm but is now 21.59cm square) to make it more accessible online.
I am paying a one-time publishing fee and no royalties thereafter. If I manage to clear the overall book costs then will make donations to an allergy research foundation that is close to my heart.
Mirabel Lavelle is a Maltese born academic who speaks six languages. She lives with her husband in the North of England and has four grandchildren. She is taking time out from academia to focus on her love of writing children’s books with the aim to raise allergy safety awareness. Her soon to be published picture book is called Zeb, Jet and the Ice-Cream Calamity. You can connect with Mirabel on Twitter @Mirabel20287342. For those wanting to find out more about allergy research, visit: Natasha Allergy Research Foundation (narf.org.uk)
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